War in Germany
by holdstheace
Summary: The night after the infamous club scene. First Joe's perspective, then Jess, then Jules.
1. Joe

**War in Germany**  
_Joe _

Joe rolled over. He had been having a pleasant dream about something and now there was a woman shrieking in his ear…why wouldn't she go away? But then again, who could it be? With a start Joe woke up enough to realize where he was.

It was his alarm. Restraining the frustrated words that had sprung to his mouth, he slapped at the clock. As always he deliberated flopping over back to sleep, and as always the discipline that made him a good coach had him staggering to his feet.

Staggering…staggering. Oh lord. It was a quick two steps to the hotel chair and Joe put his head in his hands.

Last night he had seen Jess Bamra like he'd never seen her before. Or maybe he finally couldn't ignore the way he always had seen her. No matter, she had walked through the hotel door and it was all he could do to string together a sentence.

After that he'd been doing okay. He had one glass of wine and sat in the corner, acting like the perfect chaperone. Then Jules had come over, asking for a dance. Jess had come over too. He had known that she was slightly drunk. Otherwise she would have never let her face swing so close to his and smile so infectiously. Jules had dragged him onto the dance floor and then, carried away by the music, he had grabbed Jess to dance with her too.

Okay, so far, so good. Dancing with Jess and Jules. If only he'd stayed on the dance floor. But no, he had been concerned about Jess when she left. He'd fooled himself into thinking that it was his job as a coach. And maybe it was okay to help her to her feet and support her when she almost fell outside the door. But to stand two inches from her, staring at her face, talking…that hadn't been so wise. Especially when Jules had wandered out and caught them red-handed. He felt bad about that. He knew that Jules liked him but what could he do? He didn't like her back. He couldn't see any way around hurting her feelings. She'd be mad at him.

Jules would be mad at Jess too. Would that mess up his team? he wondered. Girls were girls and if there was something going on...maybe Jules wouldn't pass the ball to Jess now because she was mad at her…

"I am a true football coach," he thought wryly. "I almost kissed one of my players last night and now I'm worrying about how it will affect my team."

Dear lord, he had almost kissed her. He couldn't believe it. He had never tried anything with any of the girls. He hadn't even let himself think about it. What had happened? He thought his alcohol tolerance was higher than that. One glass of wine shouldn't push him all the way from not even considering kissing one of his players to almost doing so.

Joe knew he would have kissed her if Jules hadn't shown up. And that scared him. The truth was, it wasn't the wine that had made him lose his self-control. It was Jess. That scared him too. He wasn't sure he'd be able to coach fairly now. Could he keep that professional distance?

And yet how could he be anything else? Jess's family was equally, if not more limiting than their coach-player relationship. He had said the brave words "your mum's a barrel of laughs compared to my dad," but frankly, he was terrified of her mother.

There was nothing he could do. He had developed feelings that were ridiculously similar to love and he was trapped. He wanted Jess now, more than anything, but there was no way it could happen. There were too many obstacles in the way: the team, Jules, Jess's family, maybe even Jess herself…he'd have to forget about it.

Joe was astonished to find two tears trickling down his cheeks. He didn't want to forget about it. Damn. He rose from the chair and headed for the shower. Maybe cold water would bring him to his senses.


	2. Jess

**War in Germany**

_Jess_

Jess woke to a slightly throbbing head. There were outlines of light around the shades. In a moment of panic, she glanced at the clock, but then relaxed back into bed as she realized they still had two hours before leaving for the airport.

She was wide-awake though, and remembering what had happened last night.

The memory was slightly blurry, but the emotion was sharp and clear. She had wanted to kiss Joe, and she was pretty sure he had wanted to kiss her.

It had been a slip…a slip by both of them. He didn't mean anything by it.

Even as she resolved that he hadn't, her traitorous thoughts flashed back to his eyes staring into hers, moments before they had almost…

But they hadn't. Jess didn't know whether she was glad or angry that Jules had interrupted them. Jess knew she had been a little tipsy and Jules had kept her from doing something that she might have regretted. But on the other hand, her heart had been crying out for that kiss. And because Jules had showed up, well, they wouldn't be such great mates anymore, until someone said they were sorry.

The trip had been wonderful until last night. She thought back to their boat tour on the first day. She had never been so happy, free from the limitations of home, riding along the river, looking at all the sights, laughing with Jules and seeing Joe smile for once. He had such a lovely smile and when he grinned, Jess felt her stomach ache.

Who could have known that the happy day would end in a loss to the Germany team and then the disastrous night at the club?

Maybe her parents had been right in their worries. Playing football did seem to lead to problems. She had never even considered falling for a boy who wasn't Indian. Despite her tendancy to stretch the bounds of her culture by playing soccer, she would never have purposefully challenged it, especially when it came to marriage. But now Joe...he was Irish, for godsakes!

Jess had never felt more out of her element. The situation was so bizarre and unreal. She liked Joe…a lot. And he liked her. But it was so impossible! He was her football coach. It would shock her parents, but more than that, Jess knew that she was unprepared for this too. She wasn't sure she could handle a relationship with someone within her culture and Joe had the added difficulty of not being Indian. Not to mention the fact that Jules liked him. Why hadn't she been clearer before? Jess had never had a best mate like Jules before, and to lose that friendship over a guy when she had never been interested in guys before…it certainly appealed to her sense of irony.

"Jules?" Jess said, almost without thinking. Maybe she was awake and they could talk.

But Jules was either still asleep or persisting in an obstinate silence. Jess sighed and decided to get up. Maybe she could catch Joe at breakfast and say that she hadn't meant anything by her behavior last night, even if that wasn't true by a long shot. Maybe when Jules was awake she could say sorry and Jules would forgive her. Maybe things would go back to the way they had been before.


	3. Jules

**War in Germany**

_Jules_

"Jules?"

Jules woke to someone saying her name. After a moment, she realized it was Jess and kept her face buried firmly in her pillow. There were the quiet noises of Jess getting up, getting dressed and then leaving the room.

"Probably to shag Joe," Jules thought bitterly, ignoring the ridiculousness of such a situation.

She had never felt so angry in her life. Sure, she had had problems before: her mom's pressures to act more like a girly-girl, dealing with the guys (and girls) who thought girls couldn't play football. But what had happened last night made everything else seem like small change. Everything had gone wrong. Her world, revolving around football, with Joe at the top and Jess alongside as her friend, had come crashing down.

How could she not have seen it coming? Looking back, she could see every moment at the club from a different perspective: Joe's initial refusal to dance with her and then how he grabbed Jess as soon as they reached the floor. His conversation with Jess, ignoring her. Leaving her to go after Jess. And then as she had found them on the balcony…

Jules squeezed her eyes tightly to keep in the tears. This whole time, she had hoped that Joe liked her and it was only his role as her coach that kept him aloof. But his actions last night had made it abundantly clear that it wasn't his professionalism that kept him from making advances. No he just didn't like her enough to risk it, like he obviously did with Jess.

But the feeling of betrayal didn't really come from Joe. She was mostly hurt by what Jess had done. What kind of friend was she? Had Jess even considered how Jules felt? Jules quickly ruled out the possibility that she didn't know. She must have…they were already such good mates. After all, Jules was the one who had gotten her onto the team—making Joe watch her try out. She'd encouraged her to come when her family disapproved, set up the fake job, even given her dress shoes so she could buy the proper football boots. Last night it was Jules who had called in Mel. The only reason that Jess had looked so good last night was because she, Jules, had helped her out.

And then Jess had been the one making goo-goo eyes at him and being totally oblivious to the fact that he was off-limits! Did she have any sense of propriety? Joe could get in major trouble for this. Not to mention what her family would think. She had never met Jess's family, but from what Jess had said, they would flip if Jess came home with Joe. My mom would be over the moon, Jules thought ironically. Probably the one thing I could do to make her happy.

It just wasn't fair! Jules had done the right thing and not tried anything obvious, waiting, hoping that he would notice something, that maybe he liked her too. She had stayed late at practice, had spent time with him while he was working, had done everything he said and more.

Jules didn't know whether she was shaking with anger or heartbreak. Finally she decided not to decide and stuffed her face into the pillow.

What a bitch.


End file.
